Eastern Sierra Fall: A Leaf-Peeper Deal

Mono County is starting to show its hues, autumn people.

By Alysia Gray Painter •Published September 22, 2015•Updated on September 26, 2015 at 8:56 am

Josh Wray/Visit Mammoth

A LONG DAY OF LEAF-PEEPING... can challenge even the most practiced of fall fans. After all, even if you've been down a particularly colorful road before, where the cottonwoods go golden and the aspen shiver and shimmer, things can look a mite different than you remember them. Perhaps you're there slightly earlier, and everything is still lime-green, or perhaps a grove that didn't get too colorful in years past is sudden aflame with fabulous hue. In short, while it is a relaxing pursuit, the enjoyment of fall foliage, it is an active one as well, requiring the autumn-loving adventurer to forever keep her eyes well-peeled. Enter the idea of bedding down there the fall colors are, instead of making your way back home after a big day wending around back roads, and you have the leaf-peeper's ideal scenario. Look, look, point, sigh, look, drive, turn around, circle back, look some more, and then turn in early near all of those aspens and oaks. Look to the resorts around Mammoth Mountain, which sit rather close to the colors of Mammoth and Bishop and June Lake. Tamarack Lodge offers a leaf-peeping stay-over package each year, for those seeking some stunning vistas but not the long trek home. And the deal is on again for fall 2015, which means you could be staying...

NEAR A POSTCARD-PRETTY ALPINE LAKE... in just a matter of days or weeks. After all, the foliage season doesn't last all that long and the Eastern Sierra area is already showing its seasonal wow, tree-style. The Tamarack Lodge Fall Colors package has a choice between a boat rental (for two hours) or a 2-for-1 bike rental deal, plus a stay, plus Continental breakfast, plus a post-dinner sweet. The food part is the fortifying bit, after all of your time roaming the hillsides for color, and the boat or bikes provide a fresh-air way for visitors to come into closer contact with mountain-crisp autumn air. Need dates, details, and how to commune with the leafy loveliness of this fabled-in-fall (and-all-year-long) region? Point your oar or handlebars in this direction, foliage mavens.